Game on at the oval

Anyone wanting any other sort of coffee-based beverage – cappuccino, latte, Americano – will need, at the very least, a reasonable knowledge of how each drink is made. But the knowledge will be pointless if they don’t have the requisite equipment, such as a milk frother.

That other apparatus is, of course, available usually from the same company that sold you the bells-and-whistles espresso machine – at a premium price, which, frankly, seems a bit cheeky.

The Nescafé Dolce Gusto Circolo offers an enormous amount of range, with capsule flavours including everything from cappuccino to hot chocolate (as well as a couple of iced drinks), making it, essentially, a coffee vending machine that you can have access to in your kitchen whenever you like.

The Circolo looks a lot better than a vending machine, though its fairly large, oval design will initially look a bit odd for users expecting something along the more classic lines of the Nespresso range. That size allows for a good-sized water tank (1.3 litres), which is great, as the convenience of such inventions is rather undermined when you have to criss-cross the kitchen to top up the reservoir after each cup.

Otherwise, the elegant technology is the same as the Circolo’s competitors. You lift a lever, pop in capsule, lower the lever, press the “go” button, wait a few seconds and then take your cup.

Added here is a little scrolling wheel that adds or takes away lit bars on a scale (minimum of one, maximum of seven), according to the graphic on the lid of the capsule you’re using. More bars mean more water through the capsule for a fuller cup or weaker coffee.

The Circolo is better made and more satisfyingly hefty than the cheaper, smaller options in the Nescafé Dolce Gusto range.

None of them have the design credentials of the Nespresso equivalents, but all are more versatile. The major downfall is the wastefulness involved in the process. Making anything that involves milk or froth means using two capsules per cup which is expensive and which results in a towering pile of environmentally unfriendly plastic at the end of each day (particularly if you’ve hosted a party).

But if enjoying coffee shop-style drinks at home is your thing whatever the cost, the Circolo is for non coffee snobs; they simply wouldn’t stand for all froth and flavour nonsense probably the best product on the market at the moment.